Music Video Analysis

We looked at the orginal Can't Tell Me Nothing music video by Kanye West and looked at areas to follow or change within our video. One area which we looked at was the camera work. In the orignal video a high angle shot is used when Kanye is performing to the camera, we took an idea similar to that in our video for one of our scenes but then we changed the sequence by using a high angle shot in a church scene. The idea behind us using a high angle shot in a church scene was to give an impression that God was looking down on the performer who was kneeling down. We also looked at the locations used in the original version of the video and there was not a variety of locations so we then analysed the lyrics and then we saw that the lyrics had so much on offer to portray. One other area which we found really interesting to work on was the performance of the star whilst the camera was following his movement. We did the same thing by panning the camera when the performer was moving at the graffiti area. This we found interesting and influential because it shows how the rapper is the central figure and is being followed so that more can be learnt about him and what he is portraying in the video.

The reason we changed the locations was because we were also influenced by major iconography in music videos so we also wanted to add more elements in the video. For example in the opening scene there is religious reference but instead of just performing it in town we will perform it in a church and also use statues of Saint Mary and the Crucifix to name a few

Here is a still from Eminem's Toy Soldiers video which was one of the influences for the graffiti scene in our video. We took this idea but then we used a brighter graffiti area and also filmed during daytime to brighten the video.

From the same video we see some religous element although not in the positive and desirable circumstances. This also influenced our religious theme and iconography by allowing us to link hip hop with religion.

The Kanye West Can't Tell Me Nothing original video:

Here is the complete music video. We took the same ideam from Kanye's original in terms of camera work. We used hand held camera work for some scenes, this was to give the video an original look. One other are we decided to change was the number of characters used in the video. In the original version the rapper is the lone star spear-heading the video. The reason we decided to have another character to support the rapper was because this will strongly emphasize the story telling concept as the rapper is teling the story to someone else. We also added props to enhance the overall look of the video and add realism. For example when the rapper is performing the lyrics, "Wait till I get my money right..." we all decide to bring real money and this also allowed the rapper to flaunt the notes during the performance. We also had a Louis Vitton scarf to add to the professionalism and to relate with the lyrics. We also enhanced the video by including a variety of locations and shots which received high praise from the audience when we showed the video.